Who has/had kids in three or more grades and a toddler: Please describe your sked.

[yellowperch]

I'm thinking through my fall schedule and feeling a tinge of terror. I would love to see how other people with three or more elementary grade students AND a young, busy toddler organize their instructional time, etc.

[Hedgehog]

I'm thinking through my fall schedule and feeling a tinge of terror. I would love to see how other people with three or more elementary grade students AND a young, busy toddler organize their instructional time, etc.

 

With a lot of flexibility ;)

 

I can send you my schedule (Excel spreadsheet) if you PM me. (I'm a bit of a technophobe and don't know how to post pictures on the threads, sorry.)

[yellowperch]

PMing now. Thank you.

[cam112198]

I will have a 4th, 1st, and Ker this year with a 19-month-old running around. I don't have any advice because this is my first year teaching 3. Last year I was only teaching 1. I am all ears and have been wondering the same thing. :bigear:

[ehommel]

Me too! I'll have a 4th, K and toddler (who is so busy and gets into so much trouble). It is going to be such a challenge because my toddler is used to play with the child who will be in K. He's going to be so bored. I think I'm just going to have to have some kind of special activity for him to do while we do school (playdoug, painting, blocks, etc.) and rotate so he doesn't get bored of it too quick. I know he'll play on his own for a while, but he'll need something as well every day. It will be interesting for sure!

[johnandtinagilbert]

The toddler has a play area next to our school area. I rotate him in 20 min. time slots from one basket of toys to another (cars, blocks, coloring, play doh, etc) so he continuously has something to do. He also watches a daily bible video, and Kipper. I have an older sibling take him outside 2x daily for 20min (2 different sibs) and he naps for 2 hours after lunch.

 

When he's sleeping, I work through projects with the others. We'll also add a newborn in August, so we'll have 10 kids. Here's my general schedule. It doesn't have any toddler built into it, b/c I already have his baskets prepared. I set a timer for him, then I move him forward. I'm teaching him number recognition, so his baskets are labeled w/ numbers.

 

FWIW, he's 3 and into EVERYTHING! We call him the A-bomb b/c destruction follows him ;)

[Osmosis Mom]

I used to have a special tote with toys, stickers etc. for my toddler twins to play from during school time only. Other than that, then, yes, the first floor was a wreck during school while they played. Water play in the sink, stuff like that. I tend to have an older kid supervise and take turns. With ds now 3, then they each had to take him outside last year for 1/2 hr. (so he was out close to 3 hours and still wanting more!).

 

Main ting is to not set yourself up for failure. Keep your expectations moderate and appreciate the small things. It'll get easier.

[Mallory]

Last year I had 10th grade (rhetoric, my sister), 5th (firmly in logic), 4th (firmly in grammar), 4yo, and 2yo. Pretty much every stage except newborn ;)

 

I do a lot of schooling one or two while the other big kids play with (read- take outside) the little ones. Sis had plenty to do independantly or on days she stayed at Dad's (we kind of split custody). The boys do a lot of their school between 7 and 9 in the morning while the teen and the littles still sleep. Sis did a lot of school after lunch when the littles took naps or played with the older boys, and saturday mornings were reserved for her school too.

 

The two little kids had a workbox kind of set of drawers. I would rotate quiet acitives and games in thier drawers every week or two (things I kept out of sight and reach the rest of the year).

 

You'll work it out :D

[UmMusa]

I will have three olders and one 2yr old.

I noticed from this year that I can have the 6yr old hang out with the 2yr old for many of the morning hours. The two eldest get most of their work done. After lunch the 2yr is napping (hopefully she will continue this next year) and I can spend one on one time with the 6 yr old. I'm going to be flexible. I just have a lot of preschool toys and writing tools, blocks, and puzzles for the toddler. She moves quickly from one to another, so I'm impressed with a PP's 20 minute rotation! Mine wouldn't sit still for that long.

[8filltheheart]

Not 3 elementary grades, but I will be teaching K, 4, 7, 10, and possibly 12 (she is trying to get admitted into a classical school.)

 

My toddler does not sit quietly and play. She loves music and dancing, eating books :D, and is just starting to play with a toy kitchen. Mostly she likes to climb up on the coffee table and dance, though. :lol:

 

My schedule will be the same it always has been. We have gates to keep her in the family room. I teach from the sofa. The older kids are the ones who rotate in and out from me. As the "older" younger kids finish up their day, they will also be responsible for playing with her for more in-depth time with my older kids.

 

I've gone through this multiple times. Toddlerhood is a season and it is one of the harder ones. But, my little ones have also always grown up with homeschooling all around them and they sort of learn that they have to go with the flow. Typically, as long as they are near me, they are ok. They have to learn that the kids books are off limits and they can not touch them.

 

Oh, one thing I am going to do for sure if our oldest dd goes to the classical school is order Making Music Praying Twice.....basically a kindermusik type program I can do at home. If I don't have to teach my sr, I will so much more time. I will do music it with the toddler and the Ker together. I think that will end up making both of them less "mommy-needy" during the day b/c they will have had fun mommy time.

 

HTH

[johnandtinagilbert]

Not 3 elementary grades, but I will be teaching K, 4, 7, 10, and possibly 12 (she is trying to get admitted into a classical school.)

 

My toddler does not sit quietly and play. She loves music and dancing, eating books :D, and is just starting to play with a toy kitchen. Mostly she likes to climb up on the coffee table and dance, though. :lol:

 

My schedule will be the same it always has been. We have gates to keep her in the family room. I teach from the sofa. The older kids are the ones who rotate in and out from me. As the "older" younger kids finish up their day, they will also be responsible for playing with her for more in-depth time with my older kids.

 

I've gone through this multiple times. Toddlerhood is a season and it is one of the harder ones. But, my little ones have also always grown up with homeschooling all around them and they sort of learn that they have to go with the flow. Typically, as long as they are near me, they are ok. They have to learn that the kids books are off limits and they can not touch them.

 

Oh, one thing I am going to do for sure if our oldest dd goes to the classical school is order Making Music Praying Twice.....basically a kindermusik type program I can do at home. If I don't have to teach my sr, I will so much more time. I will do music it with the toddler and the Ker together. I think that will end up making both of them less "mommy-needy" during the day b/c they will have had fun mommy time.

 

HTH

Sounds like another great year ;) My toddler loves to dance too...especially naked! Gotta love a nudey booty on the coffee table~!

[ChristusG]

I don't have four.....but I'll have three. A 2nd grader, pre-k, and a newborn. I'm kind of scared LOL.

[2squared]

Al these posts are making me think I should be nervous about this year, but like some PPs, the toddler/baby season seems to be a constant for me. I know what's coming. :D

[Emmy]

I'm in the same boat - this fall I will have

 

5th grader

4th grader

2nd grader

preK/Kish guy

and

almost 2 year old twins :rofl:

[creekmom]

I don't have a toddler now, but at one time, I had a toddler, K, 2nd and 4th grader. My K only did the basics (3 R's), so he had time to play with her while I worked with the older kids. "Room time" was a huge help to me in those days. Get a gate for a child-proofed bedroom, add some kid friendly music, a sippy cup of favorite drink, and a box of toys he doesn't normally get to play with. Start with small increments of time and always have a timer buzz when room time is over. My toddler was happy for 45 minutes to an hour alone in her room each morning which gave me quite a bit of time to work with the older kids. I would also use the tv for Wordworld or Sid the Science Kid, which gave me another 30 minutes uninterrupted time.

[coffeegal]

I've gone through this multiple times. Toddlerhood is a season and it is one of the harder ones. But, my little ones have also always grown up with homeschooling all around them and they sort of learn that they have to go with the flow. Typically, as long as they are near me, they are ok. They have to learn that the kids books are off limits and they can not touch them.

HTH

 

:iagree: I don't have 3 elementary students and a toddler, but been there done that about 6 years ago. During those years we concentrated on the 3 R's and got science & history in when we could. :D Now youngest ds just started crawling, and youngest dd is 2. My children will be in the 9th, 8th, 6th, and 3rd grades with 2 toddlers underfoot. After much thought and consternation, I've grouped the children into 'classes'. We'll be doing as much teacher intensive work as possible during nap times.

[Joyofsixreboot]

My youngest is more a pre-schooler now but at that stage, frankly, child gates saved me. Also rotating older kids through to play with the little so that I could work with someone 1 on 1. I also veered toward independent LA and math and group science and history.

[Renee in NC]

I will have students in K, 2, 3, 5, and 8 this year with a 2yo preschooler.

 

He is going to preschool twice a week this year. He has speech delays and I want him to get more language development time. This past year he spent most of his time screaming, even when someone was assigned to take care of him.:glare: By going to preschool twice a week, we get some quiet time and he gets to play/learn at his level.

[....]

I have a 4th grader, 3rd grader, 1st grader and 3 yro. Yeah, there's been some days...:glare:

 

I plan for school to take all day (and it does). We also school year-round.

 

I plan the week in advance for the 4th grader and 3rd grader. That helps.

 

The 3 yro also wants to "do school", so I'm trying to read books to her, she's cutting paper everywhere, scribbling over reams of paper with marker, etc. You probably know what I'm talking about! :D

 

I really don't have much advice other than "I'm in survival mode at all times". I feel like I'm just trying to make it from one hour to the next.

 

I wish I had some helpful advice.

[....]

Al these posts are making me think I should be nervous about this year, but like some PPs, the toddler/baby season seems to be a constant for me. I know what's coming. :D

 

We've been trapped in that phase for 10 years now!! :lol:

[RootAnn]

I'm in the same boat - this fall I will have

 

5th grader

4th grader

2nd grader

preK/Kish guy

and

almost 2 year old twins :rofl:

 

We'll also add a newborn in August, so we'll have 10 kids.

 

:gnorsi:

:scared:

:leaving:

 

See, posts like this give me some hope. I can't really count it as teaching three this year because my #3 is half-way through K & K is pretty "easy" in our house. The real grit starts in first grade.

 

I'll have a 5th/3rd/K (going into 1st in Jan or later, depending) plus a preschooler (4 yr old) & a toddler (will be 2 in the fall). Thank goodness I'm not adding a baby into the mix (at least "yet", one never knows what spring will bring :001_tt1:).

 

I dropped spelling as a subject this year because it was taking too much of our time and I need that time for other things. Instead of "writing across the curriculum," we'll be "spelling across the curriculum" and adding a daily dictation timeslot. (Dictation is 15 min for both olders instead of 30-45 min spelling for EACH.) I do as much "together" as I can, starting the K'er first & then letting her go play (fight) with the preschooler, and making sure my schedule has some gaps where I'll need to change diapers or set someone up with special toys (and break up fights, deal with huge messes).

[8filltheheart]

The toddler has a play area next to our school area. I rotate him in 20 min. time slots from one basket of toys to another (cars, blocks, coloring, play doh, etc) so he continuously has something to do. He also watches a daily bible video, and Kipper. I have an older sibling take him outside 2x daily for 20min (2 different sibs) and he naps for 2 hours after lunch.

 

When he's sleeping, I work through projects with the others. We'll also add a newborn in August, so we'll have 10 kids. Here's my general schedule. It doesn't have any toddler built into it, b/c I already have his baskets prepared. I set a timer for him, then I move him forward. I'm teaching him number recognition, so his baskets are labeled w/ numbers.

 

FWIW, he's 3 and into EVERYTHING! We call him the A-bomb b/c destruction follows him ;)

 

I missed this the first time! Congrats!

 

Reading this reminded me that I also need lots and lots of coffee these days to function!!

[TKDmom]

I'll have a 5th, 2nd, 1st grader, and a 2yo. I have been half-heartedly schooling throughout the summer, and I've been resorting to letting toddler dd watch Elmo's World for part of the morning. I think I need to have a little bit more structure for her so that she can be sure to get enough Mommy time. I have some toddler activity bags and books from B4FIAR.

 

I've found that whichever subjects are most important to me need to happen first, while dd is still feeling cheerful. I also use workboxes to streamline our transitions between subjects. The workboxes act like a 3D schedule for dc so that I don't have to keep track of what comes next.

 

Here is my rough schedule. It seems to be working for now.

 

Family read-alouds and poetry memorization

 

I work with 1st grader (he has no independent work), while

2nd grader plays with toddler dd, and

5th grader does her independent work (I'm there to answer her questions, but she can do a lot of her work with minimal help from me).

 

I work with 2nd grader, while

5th grader continues to work independently.

During this block of time, ds(6) is supposedly playing with his little sister, but this is when I usually resort to pulling out a video or two.

 

Lunch

 

Naptime for toddler

I work with 5th grader while boys play Legos (fight over Legos) in another room.

 

Quiet/reading time while I hunt for any chocolate that may be hiding in my room.

[bekawolf]

I'm so worried about next year! I'll have a 2nd, 1st, pre-K and 1 yo. My oldest ones still need so much attention and I dont know how to give them than while giving the little ones the attention they need, too. I need to figure out a schedule, but every time I sit down to do that I get so overwhelmed that I end up saying, "I'll figure that out later." Ha! I think it's going to be a learn-as-I-go kind of year. :001_smile:

 

Rebekah

[johnandtinagilbert]

I don't have four.....but I'll have three. A 2nd grader, pre-k, and a newborn. I'm kind of scared LOL.

:lol: I'm scared every year when school starts.

 

I'm in the same boat - this fall I will have

 

5th grader

4th grader

2nd grader

preK/Kish guy

and

almost 2 year old twins :rofl:

WHEW! That IS a lot of work. GO MOMMA GO! I used to nanny for 2yo twins...oh, yeah! They keep you busy!

 

I missed this the first time! Congrats!

 

Reading this reminded me that I also need lots and lots of coffee these days to function!!

I may have to become rather coffee dependent myself. I'm also enrolled in school :001_huh:

[rieshy]

I'll be actively schooling 5 this year plus I'll have my toddler and my commuting college student "wandering".

 

I've found that starting early in the morning with the youngest really works. So up we get pretty early with my youngest involved in everything as i make breakfast etc. then we read his storybooks... build with blocks....

 

I'll switch on to my K student with my toddler in tow while my older kids start on math.

 

By the time I switch focus to my elementary students the toddler is generally ready to play on his own- which as long as I can see him, is fine. This year the kindergartener will be tagging along a lot with the elementary students as they study geography.

 

For one on one time I switch out putting an older child in charge of the littles. Plus rest time is still golden:)

 

Generally this works great- except on days that it doesn't.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

We'll have 7th, 5th, 2nd, and 3yo this year. We use a MOTH schedule to keep up with our school work. It's the only way I can balance my time between the kids to make sure they are all getting the help they need. The 3yo will have 30 minutes to play with each of his siblings; 30 minutes to read/play with me; 30 minutes at the table for things like snack, playdough, cutting, stickers, etc.; and some time to play alone. Our schedule for the fall is up on my blog.

[SilverMoon]

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Edited September 23, 2023 by SilverMoon